Sidon man accused of 30 game violations

ABERDEEN – A 78-year-old Sidon man faces formal federal charges Dec. 3 on 30 north Mississippi hunting violations.
Pass Taylor Jr. is accused by the U.S. Attorney’s Office of baiting dove fields, guiding hunt tours into wildlife refuges, exceeding game limits and not reporting game kills.
If convicted on all 30 misdemeanor counts, he faces up to 211⁄2 years in prison and $1.52 million in fines.
A 25-page information against Taylor claims that from September 2010 through December 2011, he guided undercover conservation officers on various commercial hunts for doves, ducks and other migratory waterfowl.
An information is a formal charge that comes from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, not a federal grand jury.
On at least 10 occasions, the charge claims, Taylor guided a hunter into the Matthews Brake National Wildlife Refuge Waterfowl Sanctuary in Leflore County.
Other accusations include three counts of baiting fields, two counts of guiding hunters to baited fields, three counts of taking excess bag limits, two counts of guiding and taking excess limits, five counts of not reporting bird kills, seven counts of commercial guiding, three counts of failing to report kills, one count of trespass and one more of aiding trespass into the game refuge.
Taylor is set for arraignment before Magistrate David A. Sanders in U.S. District Court in Aberdeen.
patsy.brumfield@journalinc.com